The government believes that the subject matter of the initiative is of purely individual nature and admits of no legal regulation

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. The Russian government has issued a negative comment in response to a bill on the reburial of Vladimir Lenin’s body, proposed in the State Duma by the Liberal Democratic Party’s faction last spring.

"The Russian government does not support the bill," says an official letter from the Cabinet of Ministers signed by Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko. A copy of the letter was obtained by TASS.

The Russian government says the bill permits "the possibility of exhuming the remains of a deceased person in defiance of his or her own will expressed during the lifetime, at the request of a spouse, close relative or other petitioner." The government believes that the subject matter of the initiative is of purely individual nature and admits of no legal regulation.

The LDPR and United Russia factions on April 20 submitted to the State Duma for consideration a bill on reburying the remains of the Russian socialist revolution’s leader Vladimir Lenin from the mausoleum in Red Square. United Russia legislators eventually revoked their signatures.

The bill proposed amendments to Russia’s burial laws to complement them with the term "reburial."

"The remains of Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) shall be reburied. The rules, dates and place of reburial shall be determined by the Russian government," the bill said.

The accompanying notes contain a reminder "the question of reburying Lenin’s remains emerged in the forefront back in the 1980s and debates over this issue flare up in Russian society virtually each year."

"It is important to point out that the bill identifies the need for reburying Vladimir Lenin’s body but sets no specific dates, which allows for taking into account the political situation, social sentiment and the opinion of all parties concerned," the accompanying notes say.